Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.

Fencing Captain

Miss Priscilla Holcombe, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. A.M. Holcombe, has been elected to membership in the Foil, the women's honorary fencing club of Cornell University, which she is captain of the freshmen's fencing team, according to word received here. Miss Holcombe is well known in local fencing circles, having captained the senior fencing team at Holton-Arms, where she was graduated last year.

@bubrahucuze: Nah, Pricilla is a lefty fencer. Note the gloved left hand (and ungloved right hand). Also note her tunic buttons on her right side. If it buttoned on the left, she'd be in danger, literally.

Priscilla's awkward stance is probably due to the optical illusion caused by her being closer to the camera than her "opponent". The camera is not perpendicular to the fencers' plane. Note their feet in relation to the playground pavement gridlines.

I'd say you're right (pun intended) about Margaret being a better fencer, IF Priscilla doesn't hike-up her skirt like Margaret did. Awfully hard to lunge with a below-the-knee skirt binding you up! But seriously, some believe lefty fencers have a slight edge over righty fencers due to the righty/lefty percentage of fencers. Similar to lefty batters having an edge on righty pitchers (supposedly), etc.

is the kid atop the slide expressing "whatever." The greatest phys-ed class I ever had was fencing in college. I only wish I could afford membership in the Minnesota Sword Club about a mile from home. Anyone for street fencing?

Looks like they had Priscilla Holcombe switch weapon hands so her face could be seen by the camera. Hence her awkward stance. Either that or Margaret Montgomery is just a way better fencer than Priscilla.

Shorpy.com | History in HD is a vintage photo archive featuring thousands of high-definition images from the 1850s to 1960s. (Available as fine-art prints from the Shorpy Archive.) The site is named after Shorpy Higginbotham, a teenage coal miner who lived 100 years ago.